On May 20, the new chemical bill was praised as the rarest of things: Our Congress doing its job. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act represents more than a year of steady work, delicate compromise, and amendments to ultimately result in a means of applying regulations to chemicals that were “grandfathered in” when laws regarding toxic substances were passed more than 40 years ago. The bill passed out of the House 403 to 12, and looked to come out of the Senate with similar lopsided support.
So … you have exactly one guess at what happened next.
A bipartisan measure that would overhaul the nation’s chemical safety laws seemed destined for the president’s desk this week — until Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) put a hold on it Thursday. …
Both industry officials and public health activists say the 40-year-old law governing the regulation of thousands of chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act, does not work.
But Paul said the measure, which will provide the industry with greater certainty while giving the Environmental Protection Agency the right to obtain more information about a chemical before approving its commercial use, had not been subject to enough scrutiny.
Not subject to enough scrutiny. Paul seemed particularly vexed that the bill is “180 pages,” taking the fact that it’s nearly as long as the latest Captain Underpants adventure as a clear sign that no one could possibly read it all. How foolish is Paul’s last-minute block?
Advocates of the reform — including Donelle Harder, spokeswoman for Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) — could barely contain their frustration. …
“All that to say, I couldn’t help but realize today that I have personally carried and birthed a child in the same amount of time in which Rand Paul could have raised objections to the few lines in this bill that he is now calling ‘rushed,'” Harder wrote.
That was from James Inhofe’s office. That’s the place where dense is made, and even they have had it with Rand.